Daniel Jean, National Security and Intelligence Advisor to the Prime Minister waits to appear before a standing committee on Public Safety and National Security in Ottawa on Monday, April 16, 2018. iPolitics/Matthew Usherwood

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national security advisor denies telling journalists that rogue elements in the government of India tried to embarrass Trudeau during a controversial visit by the prime minister in February.

Daniel Jean told a Commons committee Monday he briefed reporters over the appearance of a Canadian Sikh once involved in an assassination attempt against an Indian minister visiting Canada in the 1980s. But he said any suggestion the appearance of Jaspal Atwal in India during Trudeau’s visit was orchestrated by Indian government officials did not come from him.

‘’We were trying to clarify false allegations,’’ Jean told the Commons Public Safety and National Security Committee.

‘’I indicated there were rogue elements; I didn’t say whether they were public or private,’’ Jean said at a special meeting he requested after weeks of controversy over the private briefing he gave on the Atwal affair in Ottawa.

”What I said as there were coordinated efforts to try to misinform, and did not say whether they were private or public.”

‘’It certainly wasn’t people representing the government of India, these are unknown rogue elements that coordinated these false allegations to create problems between Canada and India.”

Jean told the committee inaccurate reports surfaced after the controversy broke out, with claims the Canadian Security Intelligence Service knew beforehand that Atwal was on a guest list for a Canadian High Commission reception but did not take action.

‘’CSIS has no record or recollection of such an earlier alert,” Jean said. Another false report that circulated described Atwal as a member of Trudeau’s delegation.

He told the committee CSIS later said the agency first learned of Atwal’s controversy after a news story about his first appearance with the wife of the prime minister, Sophie Gregoire.

It was after that publicity that the Canadian government rescinded Atwal’s invitation to the High Commission diplomatic reception.

Jean laid out a careful trail of the events that rattled Trudeau’s visit, while rebutting media claims that the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service knew Atwal had arrived in India during the trip but did not inform the government.

”What I said is that we had concerns this seems to be coordinated mis-information by actors, possibly to exacerbate the faux pas, the fact that an invitation that shouldn’t have been made had been made, in order to reinforce the notion that Canada is complacent on the risk of extremism, a perception that has been brought, at times by Indian intelligence services, and one that we do not share,” Jean said.

Trudeau should explain the mix-up, said Conservative MP Erin O’Toole, claiming Trudeau supported a conspiracy theory while responding to questions in the Commons.

‘’The problem here is the prime minister’s trip was so focused on domestic politics, driven by cabinet and caucus, and they have failed to acknowledge the mistakes made on it, the biggest one being Mr. Atwal’s attendance and guest guest status at two events,” O’Toole said later.

“This is all back on the prime minister and his judgment,” O’Toole told reporters. “Now we’re able to see that Mr. Jean suggests he didn’t advance this conspiracy theory in the way that some reports have suggested, so the prime minister, relying on Mr. Jean, suggested that alternative theory, so we should ask for his apology.”

Atwal, who has asked for a chance to appear at the same committee, has also denied he was involved in any attempt to embarrass the Trudeau government.

Jean told the committee that after the discovery of Atwal’s invitation to a Canadian High Commission reception during the visit ignited the controversy, the Times of India reported that Atwal had been ”engaging” the government of India for the previous three years and had been removed from a visa black list in 2017.

Atwal served for yours in prison for the 1986 assassination attempt in Canada, which occurred after violation clashes in India between Sikh separatists and the government.